When Nina woke up, she found herself lying on a mattress on the floor with a thin blanket over her in an unfamiliar room. The room seemed to be built a while ago since the floor was a tatami flooring and the walls were basic screen design. Not very many buildings had these features to them anymore, mainly the older buildings or shrines used these. The door was a single sliding door and there was no windows to tell whether it was night or day outside. Nina groaned as she tried to lay on a side rather than her back but a sharp pain prevented her instead she took off the covers to find that her torso had been wrapped in bandages. Soft footsteps started down a hallway and began to grow louder and louder but eventually they stopped. Nina looked at the crack at the bottom of the door and could barely make out a shadow waiting behind the door so she braced herself for whoever it may be. As expected, someone came through the door, a man dressed in a hat and clogs clanked towards her but what was really unexpected was that there were three stuffed animals walking in front of him and came into the room before he did. Nina screamed when she seen the plushies coming for her.
"Hello there." The man said in a very friendly tone tipping his hat a bit. Nina waited for an explanation of everything; what she was doing there, who he was and why the heck there were three moving stuffed toys but he seemed to be avoiding the explanation for some reason.
"Well what am I doing here?" Nina asked in a serious tone after a few awkward seconds.
"Good I thought you'd never ask!" The man smirked behind a fan that he pulled out in front of his mouth and said in an excited voice. Nina could tell that this man was hardly ever serious by his first impression that he gave her and the fact that he seemed to enjoy making her wait to ask an obvious question. "You must be wondering who brought you here and the correct answer is Ichigo."
"Ichigo brought me here?" Nina blinked.
"That's right. He was off protecting you from the arrancars but apparently you got hurt so he brought you over here instead of the hospital since it would be difficult to explain the circumstances that injured you." He said in a more serious tone.
"Arrancars?" Nina wondered. "Is he okay."
"Yeah, a few cuts and bruises but nothing serious."
"Where is he?"
"He's at his house resting." He said and there was another moment of silence then the man twirled around his cane a few times then held it normally. "My goodness, where are my manners. I completely forgot to introduce myself. I am Kisuke Urahara, owner of the Urahara shop, and these are three friendly stuffed animals; Noba, Kurodo and Lirin."
"Hi there." The chick animal greeted in a child's voice.
"A pleasure to meet you." A rabbit like one said.
"Greetings." A surprisingly low voice came out of the turtle wearing a tuxedo. Nina just stared at them confused and said nothing back to them.
"You must be wondering about a lot of things that just happened to you am I right?" Kisuke Urahara asked sitting down next to her on the floor. Nina nodded once. "Lirin, Noba, Kurodo, could you go fetch us some tea."
"Right away sir." Kurodo and Lirin said.
"Sure thing." Noba said. The three of then walked out of the room and out of sight but their squeaky footsteps could be heard as they went farther down the hall.
"Do you think that you could tell me... what's been happening to me." Nina slowly asked clutching her sheet harder. She kept her eyes down and Urahara's smile faded into a very serious face.
"I can answer... almost everything." He confessed in a low voice bowing his head. "Ichigo, is a soul reaper." Nina quickly lifted her head. "Actually, he's a substitute soul reaper to be exact."
"What's a soul reaper?"
"A soul reaper is a being from the Soul Society. When one dies and has no regrets, their spirit passes on to the Soul Society becoming a being up there and forgetting everything about their life here. Some of those beings go to the great soul academy to become soul reapers. A soul reapers duty is to save those that cannot pass to the Soul Society because they have become attached to the world of the living, or this world. If they manage to save that soul, that soul goes to the Soul Society, if not, they become a monster known as a hollow; an empty soul that consumes the souls of living people in order to stay alive. Soul reapers along with hollows cannot be seen by regular humans, only those who have a high amount of spiritual pressure or in your case, are special in that area. Spiritual pressure is like a life force that is given off by a being like a living soul, soul reaper and even hollows."
"But wait a minute, what are these arrancars that you mentioned about?"
"Arrancars are what you last saw. They were once hollows but an item called the Hougyoku allows them to take off their white mask, leaving shards behind, and gain new power. They are also invisible to the people in the world of the living. The ones that you were up against were called Espada. They are the highest ranked arrancars out there and there are only ten of them. A traitor from the Soul Society stole the Hougyoku and used it to transform hollows into arrancars in order to make his own army. His plans with his army is to destroy the Soul Society."
"I don't understand, when I first came to Karakura town I couldn't see them but how come I can now all of a sudden?"
"The answer is physical contact. Do you remember making any contact with any of the hollows?"
"I remember being thrown around by one then finally I had enough of its crap so I bit it to let me go." Nina remembered and Urahara nodded.
"There's your answer. That time that you bit that hollow, sinking your teeth into him created a bond of spiritual pressure allowing yourself to see other hollows now. You're one of few people who know what they truly are now. Many who come across them have little chance of escaping alive." Urahara said. Nina's face softened into a smile.
"Hm, I guess I have Ichigo to thank. He saved me both times from a hollow and arrancar."
"That you do." Urahara nodded again. "Well I feel that I've told you everything that you need to know." He stood up. "If you ever hear anything about hollows or arrancars, please let me know." He said walking over to the door then he looked back. "Oh and one more thing... if you ever need a place to stay and get away from them, feel free to come here. My home is like a safety zone for all soul reapers around here."
"That explains why Ichigo found me unconscious on the first day of school. Wait a minute, Orihime asked Ichigo if it was a hollow but she never finished meaning that Orihime knows and sees hollows too." Nina thought then she shook her head. "Thank you." Nina said and Urahara smiled before walking away. Squeaky footsteps came down the hall again slowly this time like they were packing something heavy.
"Tea is served." Kurodo said carrying a pot of tea over his head. Noba carried a cup and Lirin stood next to them with her arms on her hips. Noba set the cup down within Nina's reach and helped Kurodo and Lirin to pour the heavy pot of tea.
"Thank you." Nina said just before lifting the cup up to her lip. She took a long sip opening one eye while she drank feeling disturbed that three live stuffed animals were staring back at her. She kept on drinking with her eyes closed hopping that they would all go away but they stood staring at her with their beady eyes. She gulped a big gulp then set the tea on her lap and sighed. She opened one eye again and they were still looking at her. She grew more self conscious about them staring at her. "What are you guys supposed to be anyways?" Nina asked with a little hint of irritation in her voice.
"We're mod souls." Lirin answered and Noba nodded his head.
"Mod what's?"
"We're modified souls created by Mr. Urahara himself." Kurodo explained with more detail.
"Mr. Urahara created you guys?" Nina asked with disbelief.
"That's right. We take the form of a capsule that can he stuck into a human or a stuffed animal bringing a life into them." Lirin explained.
"That is so cool. So what you're saying is if I were dead, someone could place your capsule in my mouth and you guys would control my body." Lirin and Kurodo had a slightly disgusted look on their face.
"Erm that's one way of looking at it." Kurodo answered.
"We've never been put into a dead body. Mr. Urahara created a geigai for each of us so that we can blend in with you humans better." Lirin continued.
"What's a geigai?"
"It's basically a human body without a soul. It's completely artificial but you can't even tell the difference." Kurodo added and Noba nodded behind him.
"This is one messed up town." Nina thought drinking again from her tea.